Georgia considers marriage equality ban
The government of former Soviet state, Georgia, has announced it plans to launch a campaign that would add a same-sex marriage ban to the constitution.
Prime minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, has said that he wants to amend the document to ensure that marriage can only take place between a man and a woman.
In a briefing on March 7, the prime minister stated that although he doesn’t believe discrimination is acceptable, he felt that “the defense of such an important value as marriage should be guaranteed at the level of the country’s constitution.”
Members of the ruling coalition, which is socially conservative, used much harsher rhetoric in their support of the campaign.
Chair of the Conservative party, Zviad Dzidziguri, said: “Those people and forces, who state that we will go over in this direction, that someone will force us to do something, will have every single foundation stripped out from under them.”
Experts believe that with a majority in parliament, the coalition shouldn’t have any problems in passing the reform.
That said, not everyone in the chamber agrees with the proposals.
Speaker Davit Usupashvili, said it was “a step towards a political trap”.
He said that although he doesn’t support marriage equality, it was not for politicians to define what it is and added that he didn’t think it was “in the national interest”.
Rumours have circulated that the coalition is on the verge of collapse and the debate on defining marriage is to help to restore it.
Others have said that it could be the powerful Orthodox church that are pressuring the government, though it has not commented on the plans.
The nation’s Constitutional Court are currently considering a case by Giorgi Tatishvili, that calls on it to legalise marriage equality.
